Like snaring coons somehow trappers got the idea that beaver had to be body snared. Beaver, especially those in open water are easy to neck snare. Next time you see a beaver swimming take notice of the position of his nose in relation to the top of the water. Under normal conditions cruising on top of the water his nose is right at water level. If he smells something like a castor mound his nose is high in the air making his head almost perpendicular to the water surface. If he sees a person or predator his nose is about 2 inches above the water surface. In any situation a loaded snare set so the bottom of the loop is only 1 inch under water will neck snare over 80% of the beaver. Neck snared beaver have less fur damage and less snare mark on the leather.





That does not mean I don't catch em' in a 330.




I caught this beaver with no tail when it was just a pup. That is why 3 years later he had no tail. When I caught him the first time it was in a Montgomery 0600 by the tail. I released him as at the time we were only allowed 8 beaver and I did not want to use a tag on a 10 pound beaver. His tail was frozen and must have come off later.


In the early 1990's we were not allowed to kill nusance beaver, they had to be relocated. I would snare the beaver out in the water. A beaver in the water does not get too feisty but a beaver on land is not a happy camper. Once caught I would snap a longer cable onto the swivel, thread it through the cage door and out the back. Then cut the snare loose and pull the beaver into the cage. Last stage was to slide a hook under the snare and cut it off his body. I cut a notch in the beaver's tail before releasing it. Some beaver just love to plug a culvert pipe. My record was catching the same beaver 5 times at 5 different complaints in one year. Got paid each time (job security?) The fourth time I released him in a state forest and he left that river and traveled cross country for over 2 miles to another river drainage and plugged another culvert.

Amazing what you have learned.....jk

Ingenious !